News Of The World January 9th 2000

HORSE lover Gail Rawlings was in tears when vets advised that her champion mare April would have to be shot after breaking a leg.

She said no - and April is once again winning show jumping competitions at the grand age of 25, thanks to a pair of magnetic boots!

Gail, 34, of Whitchurch, Bristol, tried the boots in desperation after a friend came up with the bizarre idea.

She said: "Quite frankly I was flabbergasted by the results. On the day the vet came I literally had the local abattoir on standby to come and turn her into pet food. She could barely move."

"Yet I put the boots on her Monday evening, and by Wednesday morning she was walking around her stables. A week later she was running around in the fields and soon after that she was back jumping fences like a filly."

"It's like a 70-year-old woman with a broken hip who couldn't walk suddenly making a full recovery and running the London Marathon."